Is the PI programme what an older child needs?

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wherenow
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Is the PI programme what an older child needs?

Post by wherenow »

Hi Debbie,

I am looking at trialing a phonics approach with some of our older children, 10 to 12 year olds, who are struggling with English.

I have quite a few years of experience promoting synthetic phonics in our younger classes, but I would like to try a phonics programme with some of our older children.

Are there any assessment tools you could recommend which would me help me to be confident that the PI programme is what they need?

Thanks.
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

Hi wherenow - and welcome to the message forum!

I think that your question re 'assessment tools' might be a little ambiguous as there are a number of issues to be considered, for example:

1) Assessment of the needs of the pupils regarding their alphabetic code knowledge (the letter/s-sound correspondences - but in 'two' directions - print to sound for decoding and sound to print (and knowing about spelling alternatives for the sounds and about spelling word banks for long term spelling ability) - and assessment of their phonics skills - decoding for reading and orally segmenting spoken words for spelling and pulling letters and letter groups from memory to spell generally and to spell specific words.

2) Assessment (or evaluation) of any phonics programme itself to ascertain whether it is fit-for-purpose for rigorous and systematic teaching of the alphabetic code and phonics skills - allowing for plenty of practice of the phonics skills (and throw in 'handwriting' to the required skills) with a comprehensive bank of cumulative words, sentences and texts. Evaluation of the guidance for the programme's level of rigour and content plus whether it is appropriate for the age of learner and stage of learning and the needs of the learner.

You can use the information provided about the Phonics International programme to support you in your assessment of your pupils' alphabetic code knowledge and needs. You can do this, for example, by considering the comprehensive-ness of the Phonics International programme - for a start, how many letter/s-sound correspondences does it feature? How well do your pupils know the code as featured in Phonics International?

The answer to this is to look at one of the programme's Alphabetic Code Charts to see which units of sound and spelling alternatives are in the content of the programme - then use this list to see 'which' of these your pupils are not familiar with - for reading and spelling purposes:

http://www.alphabeticcodecharts.com/DDD ... bleTop.pdf

There are some free assessments on the Free Resources page which you might find helpful to give an indication of your pupils' phonics knowledge and word level reading and spelling skills:

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/assessment.html

In terms of evaluating the suitability of the Phonics International programme for 10 to 12 year olds, you can read up about the contents of the programme and its rationale via various 'About the programme' pdfs and video clips.

You can also look at the report on intervention in a secondary school on the homepage of this website:

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/Sec ... ite_up.pdf

There is a feedback section for teachers, tutors and parents of older learners on the 'Feedback' message forum:

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/for ... .php?t=174

You will see that people speak highly of the programme's content and effectiveness. The good use of the programme, however, is obviously important.

You will find that the level of the vocabulary within the Phonics International programme goes beyond 'infant' level and, as the programme progresses, it effectively moves into a spelling programme with an emphasis on using spelling stories (the 'I can read' texts with comprehension questions and accompanying pictures to make them memorable) to emphasise the need to recall spelling word banks.

If you have assessed that your pupils need to have stronger and more comprehensive alphabetic code knowledge and stronger phonics skills for reading and spelling, then what remains is for you to evaluate the Phonics International programme to decide on its usefulness in your particular setting.

If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

All the best.

Debbie
Debbie Hepplewhite
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

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